Martin TENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON REVERSAL THEORY 2 – 6 JULY 2001 HOBART AUSTRALIA

s of Conference Papers Conceptual Developments in Reversal Theory Michael J. Apter Georgetown University, Apter International Presenting Author: Michael J. Apter This paper will introduce some new concepts and terms that have been developed recently. These do not contradict any previous tenets of reversal theory, but rather refine some of its central ideas, and provide a vocabulary for describing experience more precisely and systematically. It is suggested that the aspect of experience that each pair of states operates on should be known as the domain of that pair. At any one moment, one domain is likely to be more focal than the others, and if this focality represents a general tendency, then the domain is salient. Also at any one moment there will be four states operating (one from each domain), and we can refer to this subset of active states as an array. We also need to distinguish between various ways of aggregating states over time in our analyses. In particular, we should distinguish state balance, situational state balance, and event state balance. Estimates of state balance will normally give a good indication of current dominance. This should be distinguished from constitutional dominance, which is the innate dominance that the individual is born with and which may become modified over time. Self-pattern is the individual’s profile of current dominances over all four pairs of states. Individuals may also display key states, these being states which are frequently active for that person and which tend to be focal when they are active. These new terms, and some others (like chronotyping, and motivational richness) will be described and illustrated in this paper.